“Happy-talk” is not just a song from “South Pacific.”  TV producers use the term to describe the back-and-forth banter of news anchors as they fill the moments between news segments.  You’ve heard it.  Maybe it has provoked a smile or maybe a cringe. 

Happy-talk doesn’t have to be sincere; it doesn’t have to be heart-felt.  For that matter, it doesn’t even have to be true.  We don’t care whether our local news people really thought the five-year-old baton twirler was cuter than a basket of kittens.

The prophet Micah was no fan of happy-talk, even though he was writing a couple thousand years before local television was a thing. 

He despised the happy-talk of prophets who told people just what they wanted to hear.  These prophets told good news to the ones who paid their salaries and prophesied ruin against those who refused to put them on the payroll.   Micah warned against these professional happy-talkers.  His prophetic preaching was anything but happy-talk.

Micah denounced the injustice of the rich and powerful who exploited the poor and vulnerable.  He told them their selfish greed was nothing more than idolatry.  He warned them that the nation was headed for disaster.

Not surprisingly, people preferred the professional happy-talk prophets who told them what they wanted to hear.  Micah, who exposed their sin and warned of its consequences, was not nearly so popular.

The truth is not always pleasant, but sometimes we must tell the truth even when it hurts.  When someone we know is on a self-destructive path, the thing to do is to tell them to turn around.  There are times when keeping silent is more harmful than saying the thing no one wants to hear.

It’s no fun to tell people an uncomfortable truth, whether from a pulpit or over coffee with your best friend, but the ones we love deserve no less from us.

Prayer:  God of truth, first of all and most of all, let me hear the truth I need to hear, even if it’s hard to bear.  Grant me courage to speak the truth without fear, but teach me to keep my mouth shut until my words are formed in love.  Amen.